Common App

May 2019

Common Application Inc.

Formation	1975
Type	Non-profit NGO
Status	Public charity
Purpose	Higher-education application processing
Headquarters	Arlington, Virginia, United States
Leader Title	President & CEO
Leader Name	Jenny Rickard
Name	Common Application Inc.

The Common Application (informally known as the Common App) is an undergraduate college admission application that applicants may use to apply to over 1,000 member colleges and universities in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as in Canada, China, Japan, and many European countries.

Member colleges and universities that accept the Common App are made up of over 250 public universities, 12 historically black colleges and universities, and over 400 institutions that do not require an application fee. It is managed by the staff of a not-for-profit membership association (The Common Application, Inc.) and governed by a 18-member volunteer Board of Directors drawn from the ranks of college admission deans and secondary school college counselors. Its mission is to promote access, equity, and integrity in the college admission process, which includes subjective factors gleaned from essays and recommendations alongside more objective criteria such as class rank.

Membership

Of the Common Application's over 1,000 member institutions, about one-third are "exclusive users" that use the Common Application as their only admissions application online or in print (listed https://www.commonapp.org/explore/). If the member has a separate proprietary application, they are required to give equal consideration to applicants using either form as a condition of membership.

Digital application system

There are different Common Applications for first-year admission and transfer admission. Both versions allow the application to be filled out once online and submitted to all schools of the applicant's choosing, with the same information going to different schools. Once the application is submitted to a college online, it cannot be changed for that college; the student must contact the college directly if they wish to correct an error or provide more information. The Common Application also allows the student to submit and track other components of their application such as supplemental questions, recommendation letters, application fees, and school forms. Students may also roll over their account information within the Common App tab of the dashboard from year to year, using the same user name and password.

Although the Common Application allows applicants to self-report standardized test scores (including the SAT and ACT) and international educational qualifications (such as GCE A-levels or the Baccalauréat), the vast majority of colleges require an official score report from a testing agency.

"Fair Common Application"

To protest the inequity of the college application process for undocumented immigrant students, many of whom were brought to the U.S. as very young children, the immigrant rights group Students for Undocumented Dreams and Decision Equity Now (SUDDEN) launched the Fair Common Application website in 2013. Visitors to the website are able to sign a petition for the Common App to change its current demographic options to include undocumented American immigrants. The group argued that this, coupled with a failure to mention undocumented immigrants in the Common App's non-discrimination clause, left undocumented applicants unsure if they could use the application service. By petitioning to change this policy, the group hoped to see a clearer application that helps undocumented Americans avoid the "separate and unequal" admissions process for international students. Common App representatives threatened legal action, alleging copyright infringement, resulting in the website's creators taking the protest site down.

Technical difficulties

From August to October 2013, the Common App drew criticism due to multiple issues with their website. On August 1, 2013, the Common Application launched its new CA4 system. Counselors and students reported portions of essays being deleted, formatting issues, instructor recommendation problems, payments being sent out multiple times and more. By December 2013, managers claimed the "glitches" with the Common App appeared to have been resolved, with one admissions director describing the situation as "basically ‘business as usual.’" In late October 2017, the Common App was temporarily taken offline due to unusual spikes in system activity. Despite the brief disruption, more than 1 million students submitted via Common App through November 1, 2017.

Competition

The Universal College Application was started in 2007 and as of March 2019, had 10 participating institutions.Reference, August 2021

The Coalition Application was created by selective consortium of colleges and universities known as the Coalition for Access, Affordability, and Success, in September 2015, in response to the Common Application's 2013 outages. The organization is now called the Coalition for College; more than 150 US-based universities participate. The Coalition application was created as a more "holistic" application, and includes "lockers" where students can create a portfolio starting in 9th grade.Reference, August 2021

The Common Black College Application (CBCA) was started in 1998 to augment the marketing and recruitment efforts of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) while increasing the educational options for students interested in attending a HBCU. Students are able to complete the CBCA and apply to any number of the 60 currently participating Member Institutions at the same time for a one-time fee of $20. Students pay no other application fees.Reference, August 2021

See also

• Coalition for College
• College admissions in the United States
• Transfer admissions in the United States
• Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), UK